Thoughts, opinion, general wondering and the odd pointless observation.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Dortmund: A Club Reborn

'Klopp’s greatest achievement at the club has been to develop a
relentless spirit, a common bond, a unity.'

They’ve learned the hard way,
Dortmund.

16 years ago, they were crowned
Europe’s best. 8 years later, they stared bankruptcy in the face. But since
then, with a couple of diversions along the way, they’ve dominated domestically
to such an extent that their bitter rivals Bayern have enticed some of the
world’s most sought-after youngsters and seduced the world’s most sought-after
manager to try and grapple control of German football again.

This year’s Champions League
decider at Wembley - a showdown between two German sides - has sparked plenty
of debate about the current state of football in the country. The Bundesliga is
being trumpeted as the best league in Europe. It’s entertaining, it’s
economical and it’s sustainable. But, for Dortmund and Germany, it wasn’t
always this way.

By November 2005, the club’s
financial situation was perilous. A Munich-based analyst Peter-Thilo Hasler
warned that “you
cannot make a business plan based on the best-case scenario". This was the
root cause of Dortmund’s predicament - basing future earnings on past successes
and gambling millions on inflated wages and ‘expected’ Champions League
qualification. An old cautionary tale perhaps but this was different. This
wasn’t just any club. Giddy on excitement, drunk on possibilities, a
high-profile European side embarrassed itself with its lack of basic business
acumen and brought a powerhouse to its knees.

In the summer of 2001, Marcio
Amoroso was signed for a German record 25m euro. He had an instant impact. The
club won its sixth league title with the Brazilian finishing the campaign as
joint-top scorer. But less than three years later, Amoroso would have his
contract cancelled due to increasingly volatile behaviour. Dortmund involved
themselves in other short-sighted transfers, dropping 6 million for Victor
Ikpeba, a similar amount for Fredi Bobic, even more for Sunday Oliseh. Within a
couple of years, all three would be moved on. Within a couple of years, the
club was a mess. A third-placed league finish in 2003 meant a Champions League
qualifier the following season. They lost on penalties to Club Brugge. It got
worse. The supposed tranquility and safety of the UEFA Cup spectacularly
backfired with a 6-2 aggregate defeat to Sochaux in the second round. The
second leg was in Dortmund. They were humiliated 4-0. This was not in the script.

Dortmund’s plight got so bad so
quickly that Bayern loaned them 2 million euro to pay staff for a number of
months. They sold their stadium to a real estate fund and leased it back. By early
2005, share prices were at an all-time low. Dortmund couldn’t afford to pay
their rent anymore. Having so desperately desired the deep end of the pool for
so long, they were now drowning in it. By March, desperate for cash to secure a
license to compete in the league the following season and avoid administration,
the club was thrown a lifeline. Its landlords, Molsiris, agreed to Dortmund’s
proposal of a buy-back of the Westfalenstadion. A deal was arranged which saw
the club get a crucial net cash-flow of 9 million euro. Molsiris allowed
Dortmund use a 52 million security deposit to buy back 42.8% of the stadium.
Rent was reduced from a crippling 1.3 million euro per month to 300,000 euro
through 2006. After the five-hour meeting with investors, club president Reinhard Rauball said 'I hope I never
have to endure another day like this.'He had only been in the role for a number of months, replacing the
long-serving Gerd Niebaum. He and Managing Director, Michael Meier, were seen
as the architects of Dortmund’s downfall, the focus of fans’ frustrations and
fury. By the end of the season, both had been banished from the club for good.

The club’s problems had deeply
worried German football authorities. After all, even hardcore Dortmund fans had
surrendered to the likelihood of the club going bust. But financial problems
were threatening a number of teams, not just one. In 2002, Kirch Media, who
owned German football’s biggest TV contract, went bankrupt. Bayern’s Karl Heinz
Rummenigge questioned the future
of the country’s second division and“about a third of the clubs in the first". 60
per cent of all players in the Bundesliga were foreign and commanding big
salaries.By 2005, the 36 Bundesliga teams had a combined debt
of 698 million euro. One financial expert was deeply pessimistic about the
future, ‘The situation is very tense and very critical. It's five minutes to 12
for the Bundesliga," said Angelika Amend. Schalke were struggling, though
their risk of carrying a heavy wage bill paid off as they racked up numerous
Champions League qualifications and unearthed a string of quality underage
players later sold for decent money. Hamburg also battled bravely against heavy
debt – their clever transfer policy keeping them consistent. For
Kaiserslautern, the 1998 Bundesliga champions, years of off-field problems
finally resulted in their relegation in 2006.

Dortmund meanwhile acted fast to
rebuild the club. By December 2005, the Westfalenstadion had been re-christened
Signal Iduna Park, ironically enough through a sponsorship deal with a German
insurance company. The transaction netted the club about 20 million euro.
Salaries were slashed by, reportedly, as much as 30 million euro when compared
to late-90s figures. Between 2004 and 2005, Dortmund spent next to nothing on
transfers. High-earners like Amoroso, Frings, Lehmann and Heinrich were sold.
Youth was given a chance, essentially by default. Roman Weidenfeller was
brought in on a free from Kaiserslautern, sixteen year-old Nuri Sahin was
promoted to the senior side, making an historic debut against Wolfsburg in the
opening game of the 05/06 campaign. The average age of the Dortmund starting XI
that day was 25. CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said, ‘The young players are our
future and so won't be sold’. This wasn’t quite true. Watzke was intent on
operating a business, not an unsustainable fantasy like his predecessors. At 25
years old, Tomas Rosicky was sold to Arsenal for 10 million in the summer of
2006. At the same time, 22 year-old David Odonkor was moved on to Betis in
Spain for 6.5 million. Watzke knew a good deal when he saw it. Those young
players were hot commodities. It was his job to get the club back on a
relatively even keel financially. Performances on the pitch came second to
performances in the boardroom.

Jurgen Klopp’s eventual arrival
as manager led to much of the deadwood being swept away. The summer of 2008 saw
17 players leave the club, only three of them on loan deals. Klopp made shrewd
additions to the squad, focusing on young, cheap players. 19 year-old
centre-back Neven Subotic was signed from Klopp’s former club Mainz for 4.0
million. 22 year-old defender Felipe Santana was brought in from Brazil for
less than 2 million. 20 year-old Marcel Schmelzer was promoted from the youth
team. Tamas Hajnal came from Karlsruhe for next to nothing. Over 2 million was
spent on Mohamed Zidan from Hamburg. Sahin was back after a highly successful
loan spell with Feyenoord. After years struggling to find an on-field identity
owing to the off-field pressures and blinkered transfer strategy, Dortmund had
a solid spine to work with. And when there was an urge to ‘splash out’ on a
player (Mats Hummels moving permanently from Bayern in 2009 for 4.2m, Lucas
Barrios signed for the same amount), funds were raised from player sales
(Petric, Valdez, Frei). The success of Klopp’s bargain-bin strategy in the
transfer market has been commonly highlghted by Shinji Kagawa’s arrival from
the J-League for 350,000. But between 2009 and 2010, Sven Bender, Kevin
Grosskreutz, Lucasz Piszczek and Mario Goetze all arrived in Dortmund’s senior
side for a combined total of 1.5 million.

Dortmund’s strategy used to be
based on a simple economic ideal: spending more money on players means better
results. But football has too many variables for economics to work flawlessly
every time. Klopp’s greatest achievement at the club has been to develop a
relentless spirit, a common bond, a unity. The goalkeeper, Roman Weidenfeller,
has been with the club ten and a half years - from the relegation and
administration scraps through successive league titles to a Champions League
final.Captain Sebastian Kehl has
been there even longer. Grosskreutz and Reus used to cheer on the team from the
Yellow Wall when they were part of the club’s academy. Hummels, Schmelzer,
Bender, Subotic, Blaszczykowski and
Piszczek
have all signed new contracts this season. When Reus explained his decision to
re-join the club who let him go as a youth, he said,’ I just felt this is the best-supported team with
players who work well together under a great coach. Players don't come and go
as often as they do at Bayern. It's the same with the manager. I felt there
would be more stability and consistency here. It was the best place for me, and
I was coming home’. There’s a comfort to Dortmund now. They are a club once
again.

On Saturday, Bayern’s starting
XI will comprise of seven signings and four products of their youth system (it would be five if Toni Kroos was fit). The
seven signings cost the club 140 million euro. Dortmund’s starting XI, by way of
contrast, cost them 41 million. Four players cost them nothing at all. Bayern
will always have the luxury to splash out on desirable objects of affection
like Martinez or Goetze. They will always pay the biggest wages and offer the
best incentives. It’s a unique existence. Years ago, Dortmund attempted to live
in the same world. Now, they’re just happy to still be living.

Blog Archive

About Me

Eoin has over seven years experience working at the highest level of sports broadcasting in both Europe and North America.
In the USA and Canada, he's best-known as a former host of Fox Soccer's nightly studio show Fox Soccer Report while he spent three years with Ireland's national broadcaster RTE.
He's covered world soccer in-depth since starting out as a TV sport researcher and has worked on a multitude of tournaments including FIFA World Cups and UEFA Champions Leagues.
The very first game he attended was Cork City's pre-season friendly against Celtic in July 1994.
City lost 3-2.